DamnItDavid

It has been a busy few days, we got some adjustments made. Not all of them. Thighs need to come up still, and some more strapping adjustments. The big reveal at the reception was a hit. He was excited as can be to see that she is a member. The armor is back in the worlshop and next wednesday we can have it all tightened up better so she can troop

Thank you. We are going to take 1/4" off of the shins and thighs this evening and under your advice shorten the straps a bit. I think after looking at the pics. Lengthening the shoulder straps to drop the chest plate a tad will help as well. She did get her basic approval this morning. I am excited to see her soon to be husband's reaction on Saturday.

And pictures are about to be submitted. Thank you folks

Weathering done. I have to paint the ears on the bucket, i overlooked that somehow. And atacch the pouches. Approval photos tonighy

Positioning her armor pieces. Everything was sized with the black jumpsuit on. This is just getting it ready for strapping

This is still ongoing. So close to finished though

Finally started the cover strips. I am trying to get them all on by monday Front and back on the thighs, front of shins done this morning. I still need to fit the right ear on the bucket and glue the forearms. Then weathering and strapping.

Made progress finally. Had a busy week and didnt get to do much the last few days. 3 buttons glued on Left side sanding done Right side sanding done I have a small divot where the orginal notch was. I am going to cheat and use some wood filler that dries in a natural color. Once weathered it'll be hard for someone to notice. That is a lot easier to sand. I may go through and wet sand 800 and 1000 then hit it with novus 2, but being a TD it wont need to be shiny like my TK.

Congrats. That looks great.

Kidney sanded down with 60 When you shim this way,the abs gets little tiny air bubbles. As you sand most of them go away. For the ones that don't, i thin out the abs paste a lot and paint over them then sand again. For a sandy, weathering will hide any of the tiny ones by the time the armor is done.

Thanks. Hopefully finished with them by Sunday. This is also a WTF kit. I saw in a previous post about your shins. That was the hardest part of my tk build as well. The long/short was the key for me. This armor needs done by June, while i am working on my own costume for the solo premier. So I bounce back and forth a lot.

Round 1 of sanding on the shims. I will finish them tonight. Kidney Ab not yet sanded Better image of the cut out teeth Now time for some lenses Place tape and trace I then go 1/4" on the outside of the marked line and put a halfcircle in where i will add a screw Mark left and right I then place it on the material (the side with plastic film) and trace each side This gives 2 sets of lenses Bucket assembly started I use screws at the ears and a dot of e6000 to hold it in place till i get the ears fitted.

For the helmet I trace a quarter 2x so it makes an oval I then cut that out and glue that where the hovi tips go. The plastic there is really thin, this way the tips stay secure and the plastic doesnt buckle or break if they take a bump. I have cleared out the teeth a little more and cleaned up the eyes. Since I have pieces with ABS papste curing, I will be jumping around a bit while I work on finishing it up.

The crl says it is allowable to have a single kidney and posterier armor piece. I talked the options of one piece or seperate with her on Monday. I think one piece looks better, 2 piece is a lot more comfortable to wear. Once it is ready for strapping we can make that call. Its a quick score and snap. We need the smallest of shims so she has 1/4" gap or less when closed. Total amount will be 1" (25mm) added per side When I do shims I start with the main body of the armor (ab section) and a smaller strip glued with ABS paste and scrap ABS. It'll be solid and 1 permanent piece. Once that sets I glue the rest of the expansion ontop of the protruding backing piece. I will add the front piece this evening, then once the ABS paste sets up, I will sand it with 60 then 100. Check for bubbles and fill with a thin layer of paste. For the Kidney/butt plate I glued a 1" section on top of the original molded edge and filled in the original kidney notch. After this sets up I will trim the extra ABS paste down with the dremel, Then refill that area. It's more work, but once finished you won't be able to tell the armor was shimmed. This also gives me a chance to sand down and fill that pinch in the armor at the return edge. Most of it will disappear by the time fitting is finished.

Thanks. She just left. We had time to get everything sized but the forearms. Cover strips this week and most likely weathering. Next week strapping and webbing.